Book Club Friday's (#8) - Tales of Modern Russia

eldergill (52)in #bookclub • 7 years ago

Nothing is true and everything is possible.

About The Author

Peter Pomerantsev

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Born in 1977 in Kiev, he is a Soviet-born journalist, a tv producer and journalist. He currently lives in London but spent many of his early journalist and writing years in Russia. He coined the term "post-modern dictatorship" to describe Vladimir Putin's regime. Pomerantsev spent almost a decade in Moscow working as a TV producer, making documentaries and reality shows for Russian audiences.

A little bit about the book

This book was a great account of what Russia is like for a person who has not been there. The place, Moscow, in particular, is like no other place on earth according to Pomerantsev and it certainly sounds like it. Each chapter is split into certain accounts or experiences and it is fantastic because the chapter focuses solely on one particular point as opposed to jumping all over the place. In a good way, it felt like I was reading a fun newspaper due to this format. One case that really struck me, was the opinion towards escorting and basically seeking a 'sugar daddy'. It is highly promoted in Russian society with them having a higher education just teaching young females how to succeed at the art of seducing a Russian Billionaire. It also really me with the high degree of enthusiasm from Russian Socialites (or Russian Forbees' as Promeratsev depicts them in the book) in London seeing as I live there. I can understand why they want to move to this amazing city and I think that it is great for the diversity of culture in London.

I do believe that Peter Pomerantsev was exposed to the most extreme cases of the bad and the good in Russia due to his profession, however, if we were to visit or live there it may seem completely normal to us. It is very likely that all societies have an essence of this madness within them, whether that be mafia driven, escort promoting or corruption of laws and policies. But according to Pomerantsev, Russia takes this to a whole new level.